The Norman Cathedral of Monreale

Monreale is located hill-top near Palermo with its stunning Duomo.

When the Arabs took control of Palermo in 831, they transformed the cathedral into a mosque and banished the Bishop of Palermo from the town. The Bishop settled in a small village in the hills overlooking Palermo (the site of modern-day Monreale) and built a modest church.

In 1072, the Normans drove the Arabs from Sicily, establishing Palermo as their capital and re-consecrating the cathedral.

In 1074, in an act of thanksgiving of the exiled Bishop, King William II ordered the construction of a new church in Monreale, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. On its completion in 1182, Pope Lucius III elevated the splendid church to the status of metropolitan cathedral. One of the mosaics depicts King William II presenting the church to the Madonna.

William II employed the very best Arabic, Byzantine and Norman craftsmen to work on the cathedral. The result is a fascinating fusion of architectural styles, artistic traditions and religious symbolism.

The cathedral’s asymmetrical, twin-towered facade. The geometrically patterned marble floor, in-laid with Middle-Eastern mosaics, supports two lines of granite Corinthian columns that delineate the wide, lofty, wooden-roofed nave. The window-punctured clerestory and its astonishing display of art: over 6,500m² of golden mosaics animated by biblical scenes and depictions of saints, kings and angels, all interspersed with gilded motifs and sumptuous decorative patterns. It culminates at the east end in the triple-apsed choir, surveyed from on high by the very famous colossal representation of Christ Pantocrator.

Outside the Cathedral, on its south side, is located the cloisters. Built in 1200 as part of the Cathedral abbey, the cloisters comprise 108 pairs of marble columns, a covered arcade of Arabic arches and a central quad.

Every other pair of columns is decorated with unique mosaic patterns. In fact, no two are the same, and each has by a floral capital.